"By altering the complex range of Beethoven's individuality through a series of cogently crafted perspectives, Mark Evan Bonds has created a captivating new account of Western music's most widely admired composer. This book will delight music lovers at all levels, for it can be read both as a stirring introduction and as a bracing reassessment." - Scott Burnham, Distinguished Professor of Music, Graduate Center, City University of New York
  
"In Ludwig van Beethoven: A Very Short Introduction, Mark Evan Bonds employs categories such as Love, Money, and Deafness to examine the legends and biographical distortions that have encumbered our understanding of Beethoven. In doing so, he enhances rather than diminishes our appreciation of the man and the music. Bonds wears his erudition lightly, giving us prose that is graceful, forceful, and always a pleasure." - Garrick Ohlssohn, pianist
  
"A genuinely new approach to Beethoven to satisfy the reader at any level of musical knowledge. The author's profound insights into the composer's art, life, and attitudes beyond 'the scowl' offer a multiplicity of surprising and rewarding perspectives on this musical superstar and his eventful era." - Elaine Sisman, Anne Parsons Bender Professor of Music, Columbia University